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How AI-based System can Boost the Retail Industry

The retail industry is experiencing a tectonic shift in business processes in recent years. Companies that still rely on traditional business solutions have been forced to close their retail stores. Many retail business analysts are calling it a retail apocalypse that has forced many retailers across the US like Sears, Kohl’s, and J.C. Penny to close their stores. However, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to provide a significant boost to the retail industry:

AI technology can augment the cognitive capabilities of the retail management team. The technology has the ability to self-regulate, correct and operate, allowing companies to automate their repetitive and mundane tasks. AI tools leverage various innovative solutions like big data analytics, machine learning, deep learning, and many other smart techniques. Here is a detailed analysis of the benefits of AI technology for retailers:

Communication: AI tools allow retailers to communicate with their customers through various online individualized experiences, conversational robots, and social media and website chatbots. AI solutions help e-commerce retailers to personalize a customer’s experience by offering them suggestions based on their preferences. The recommendations help to reduce a customer’s time and effort in shopping, which helps to improve the customer experience to a great extent.

Inventory management: Retailers handle numerous customer engagements daily. It can be very challenging for retailers to manually track the inventory and ensure a hassle-free as well as timely product delivery according to a customer’s requirements. AI tools can come to the rescue of retailers by identifying supply gaps, evaluating and tracking inventory, and predicting the required inventory based on various factors like customer preferences, past sale data, and other variables.

Dynamic pricing: Big e-commerce retail giants have troves of pricing data that allow them to respond to their competitors' pricing in real time. The retailers with brick and mortar stores did not have the luxury of data, but with the introduction of AI tools, these retailers can also enjoy dynamic pricing. AI tools automatically update the prices in the brick and mortar stores based on various factors like weather, local events, and their competitor’s marketing campaign.